1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for establishing a game environment in virtual space by bringing pointing means into contact with an image display unit that is a touch-input type display. More specifically, the present invention relates to a system on which a player can change initial positions of characters or objects arranged in the game.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some conventional baseball games are known to allow a game player to change fielding positions of baseball player characters of a defensive team. In real baseball games, when a power hitter stands in the batter's box, outfielders may play deeper than normal in order not to let the batted ball fly over them. In some virtual games, such flexible fielding has been achieved. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-245985 explains a configuration in which, with areas, in which respective fielders' fielding ranges are made changeable, being preset with respect to sets of fielding positions, which are formed by dividing the entire fielding area into these sets, the player can move each character from the default position within the range in an amount one block at a time (see FIGS. 5 and 6).
However, in the method of changing the fielding positions as disclosed in the aforementioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-245985, it is necessary to move the baseball player characters individually for their respective positions. For example, even when the game player wants to move two or more characters together, e.g., to move outfielders deeper or to move infielders closer to the home plate, the fielders should be moved one by one, which is often bothersome for the player.
Besides, when the game player uses a portable device, such as a cellular phone or a smartphone with a relatively small and narrow display screen, it is not easy for the game player to move individual characters with his or her finger.
On the other hand, some conventional games provide choices for several typical positionings (e.g., outfield deep, outfield in, infield deep, infield in, and bunt position). This allows the game player to choose one of them.
These types of design only make it possible to choose just one positioning pattern from the predetermined plurality of patterns. Thus the game player cannot precisely adjust the positions of the individual characters, although he or she may want to move the outfielders a bit deeper or move the outfielders much deeper. Like this, the conventional games are not enough to achieve such precise positioning according to what the game player actually wants to do.